By SumOfUs.org, 13 September 2014

Exciting news! After a fast SumOfUs campaign, the D1allas County Commissioner just rejected a private prison phone company’s proposal to ban all in-person visits in Texas prisons. This outrageous proposal would have forced families to use expensive, private video conferencing software as the only way to see their loved ones.

In just 12 hours, thousands of SumOfUs supporters in Texas raised their voices and reminded the Dallas County Commissioners to stand up for people over Securus’ profits. This is a massive victory and shows we can have a powerful impact on criminal justice issues when we come together.

One of the messages delivered today that really got us said:

"My son is in prison and the only thing that keeps us going is our visits. We have tried the video visit and it cuts in and out and we can't hear each other. It’s not worth the time or the money."

Our allies at the Prison Policy Institute who delivered our community's voices told us that SumOfUs.org members helped make the key difference in this campaign.

Privatizing phones and preventing families from seeing each other in person isn’t about safety -- it’s about corporate profits. Experts know that regular calls and visits from family while incarcerated can make people far less likely to go back to prison, and together we stood up for that and got the Dallas County Commissioner to reject Securus’ contract.

The SumOfUs.org community exists to hold corporations accountable -- and it works. Already, our public pressure helped force the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on massive overcharging on the phones prisoners use to call their loved ones, and our campaign was mentioned in the first page of their landmark decision.

This victory is massive for Texas but also for those fighting the prison phone industry across the United States. Now corporations like Securus now know we are ready to stand up and raise our voices together when corporations try to make a buck off the poorest people in the state and country -- and that feels really powerful.

Thanks for all you do to fight for justice in the prison system,
Paul, Emma, Ledys and the rest of the team 

**********
Read more about the victory here:

Dallas County rejects Securus video visitation contract!, Prison Policy Initiative, September 9 2014. 

HOME